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1. Every Friday post a photo that includes one or more flowers.
2. Please only post photos you have authority to use.
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Thursday 13 November 2014

FFF156 - XEROCHRYSUM

Xerochrysum bracteatum, commonly known as the golden everlasting or strawflower, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to Australia. Described by Étienne Pierre Ventenat in 1803, it was known as Helichrysum bracteatum for many years before being transferred to a new genus Xerochrysum in 1990.

It grows as a woody or herbaceous perennial or annual shrub up to a metre tall with green or grey leafy foliage. Golden yellow or white flower heads are produced from spring to autumn; their distinctive feature is the papery bracts that resemble petals. The species is widespread, growing in a variety of habitats across the country, from rainforest margins to deserts and subalpine areas.

The golden everlasting serves as food for various larvae of lepidopterans (butterflies and moths), and adult butterflies, hoverflies, native bees, small beetles and grasshoppers visit the flower heads. The golden everlasting has proven very adaptable to cultivation. It was propagated and developed in Germany in the 1850s, and annual cultivars in a host of colour forms from white to bronze to purple flowers became available. Many of these are still sold in mixed seed packs. In Australia, many cultivars are perennial shrubs, which have become popular garden plants. Sturdier, long-stemmed forms are used commercially in the cut flower industry.

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14 comments:

  1. could you send me this little sun please? My world is so grey nowadays.

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  2. And to me too! Tom The Backroads Traveller

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  3. I have seen those in South Africa too!

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  4. Very nice picture!
    We have a small kind of this in Germany too (helicrysum bracteatum), we use it often for dry bukets. I have a plant in a pot (outdoor).

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  5. We all want to have this beautiful "sunflower".

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  6. Wow, that would be a great word for the X of the alphabet!

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  7. These and bougainvillea amaze me because they feel as if they were fake flowers made of paper. I also like these strawflowers because they are, as their nickname suggests, "everlasting." Great choice to showcase for a cold and dark week ahead, Nick.

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  8. Such a brilliantly sharp image. Perfect for those pointy petals!

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  9. I love these sunny flowers ♥
    Have a nice Friday
    moni

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  10. I reckon snails and slugs leave these stiff flowers alone. Another reason to grow them.

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  11. Pretty yellow flower! First time I saw them I thought they were fake :) I'm a little to late to link here since I been working on my kind-of-big post to show off all that I have blooming for November.

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  12. So nice of you to post one of our wildflowers. I adore them lighting up strange places in our country from the highest mountain to the driest deserts.

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  13. This really shines out like a tiny sun! Beautiful!

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